Up the Yangtze, Through the Screen

What is made so clear about Up the Yangtze is the clear class distinction there is in China and what the Western perception is of China. For a technologically advanced and green project with the hydroelectric dam, China has its fair number of people who are poverty-stricken. In the film, there is a true representation of the poverty-stricken.

Because the film explores the life of Cindy and her family, the audience gets a clear picture of just how difficult it is to live in the lower classes and why "escaping" is virtually impossible. Born from a father who can't read and mother that does not have a higher education, Cindy pursues what they do not have. As stated in class, the cruise manager took Cindy under his wing as a "charity" case. I am left to assume that had this movie not been made then Cindy would not have gotten the job the cruise; which is interesting considering that the other workers on the cruise have cell-phones and clearly come from a higher class than Cindy. Are we left to assume that this hiring of Cindy was a stunt to show that even the lower classes can obtain a job (let alone one amongst the higher classes)?

Aside from theories about the film's motives and background, the identification of the Chinese lower-class is conflicted in the film. The cruise workers come from different backgrounds, but are all made into "Westernized robots" to make the cruise guests feel welcome. I disagree with this tactic. I feel that the cruise workers adopted these Western ideals, given from the manager, to make themselves feel comfortable with the cruise guests unintentionally. The cruise guests came into China, to see Chinese culture, and to the towns along the river one last time. Why must the cruise workers "adapt" to the foreign guests when they want to see their culture.

Up the Yangtze made me think critically about class and people in general. You never truly know what someone is going through. There is a sense of irony throughout the juxtapositions in the film. Cindy and her family taking a picture in front of the dam that will remove their home was eye-opening. Did it truly matter what the dam was about to do?